Amen, so the title of the sermon this evening is behaving yourself behaving yourself and of course I
Get that there from Psalm 101 verse 2 where it says I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way
So there is a way to behave yourself
And that's really what I want to talk about tonight now if you would keep something there in Psalm 101
But go ahead and turn back to 1st Timothy chapter 3 if you're here last Thursday
You'd recall that we went through the chapter the book of 1st
Timothy chapter 3 and doing a verse by verse
sermon through that and
You'll see the same the same concept come up there if you recall 1st Timothy 3 chapter 4 verse 14 where it says
These things right under thee hoping to come under thee shortly
But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou ought how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God
Which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth?
So there is a way that we ought to behave ourselves, you know, not just in life in general
Which is we're going to talk about but specifically here as well in church
There's a way we ought to behave ourselves in church
now, of course we went through many of those behaviors this last Thursday when we talked about the
qualifications for the pastors and the deacons
I mean that's kind of what Paul is saying is these things right I unto thee
That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself
So those behaviors that we read of in 1st Timothy chapter 3 those are behaviors that we ought to have in our own life
In order that we might, you know behave in a correct manner or behave as we ought to
So they are required of them, you know
It's because of the fact, you know
Those behaviors are required of a pastor or of a deacon because why as we talked about on Thursday because they are the examples
It's not just because God wants to put an extra burden on them or make them stand out
He wants them to be examples of the believers so that others would learn to do those same behaviors
So those and I won't rehearse all of those things
Obviously just preached about that on Thursday
but there are also some real practical things that we could learn from this verse practical things that we need to be reminded of as
How we ought to behave ourselves in the Church of God, you know
And there's there's a lot of things we could probably talk about but you know
It's just some of the things that come to mind right out of the gate
You know would be probably in regards to children, you know
We have a lot of kids and kids in church need to learn how to behave themselves
You know, there's a time and place to run and play but you know when church it when you're in church
Church is not the place for children to be running around and wreaking havoc now here. We're a little bit of a smaller group
It's not a big deal. We have a little bit more room. They should still learn how not to do that
I mean my kids are here obviously all day, you know
They so when when we're out soul-winning and you know from the time we get back
They have a few hours so they can just I mean they can flip the chairs
They can you know run up and down the piano and I'm just kidding
But you know, they have a little bit more they need to get that out
you know need to be able to run and allowed what they do to do what they want to do, but
When church starts when it's church time when people are coming in, you know kids need to stop running around
They need to to mind their manners and they need to not be you know
A nuisance or even make can I say this a danger?
You know, this is something that you start to deal with when you get into a bigger a church
Especially if it's a tighter space, you know, and there's not a lot of room to move around
You know
When you have kids running around that can be a real danger, you know
It's something we're always having to correct in Phoenix
Stop your you know, stop running stop running stop running and people constantly have to be reminded of but that is one way
We could apply this say hey kids ought to behave in the house of God
What's another thing that kids need to do?
Kids need to learn how to sit still during a sermon and pay attention as well as adults, right?
But we should learn that as children and one thing that they could they also need to learn to do is
To not be getting up during a sermon, you know
I understand if there's an emergency or something like that
But a lot of times kids you'll see this they'll just get up in the middle of a sermon go get a glass of water
They're not thirsty. They're bored
You know and we try to be as preachers try to be as
Dynamic as we can and try to preach sermons that are gonna be engaging but you know, you can only a lot of kids
You know, unless you're shooting lasers out of your eyeballs and juggling sticks of fire
You're not gonna hold their attention for very long. I mean, yes, if you were up against some stiff competition, you know
I'm not some digitized, you know
Pokemon character up here with with with flaming fire and everything else that goes on without all that
You know, so they have a real short attention span as it is
But it's up to us as parents to train our children to learn how to sit still to pay attention
You know, it's gonna it's Johnny's gonna be okay if he has to go 30 minutes without a glass of water
You know because here's the thing. It's distracting. It's distracting to those around you more than anybody, you know me, you know
I've I've learned as a preacher and I'm still learning to not allow things to distract me
But I'm not gonna say it never happens
You know, we try hard to not let that happen and to and we want to minimize distractions
But we also on the on the from the preacher side, too
We don't want to try and preach in a vacuum, you know end up like being one of these preachers
I just can't have any kids around us anywhere
You know and if somebody makes a peep it's like it just throws off our game
But that being said we should still strive to have our children behaving in the house of God
Those are just some practical things that we could apply here, you know bathroom breaks, you know, people can can wait a little bit longer
I know there's certain circumstances where these type of things, you know, we don't want any accidents out there
But a lot of times, you know
People are just getting up moving around just because that's what they want to do because they're just a little stir-crazy or whatever it is
But that's not proper behavior in the house of God
We need to learn how to behave ourselves not running around sitting still paying attention and giving our undivided attention to what's being preached
I mean, that's why we came to church. I'd assume is to hear the preaching the Word of God
That's why we would bring our families and our kids it only makes sense that we actually once we got him here to actually have
Them pay attention and listen to what's going on
so
But I really want to focus in on that really on the practicalities of what we need to do because I think as a church
We probably have a pretty good grasp that you know, we understand. I mean everyone here is pretty helpful
You know, they they you know, they do things for one another they help out cleaning and stuff like that
So, you know, we've got that pretty much down
But this is just going to be kind of a reminder to us that we need to be careful
how we behave ourselves not only in that Church of God house of God, but outside the house of God because
There is a way to just behave in life in general, right?
so
What we want to start out with is with is how not to behave a lot of times you can figure out what?
What is good behavior? Well, let's identify bad behavior, right? That's usually a good place to start identify. What are bad habits?
What are bad behaviors to have and then avoid that and we'll probably be headed in the right direction of good behavior. So
We need to learn how to behave in life in general
Because of the fact that how you behave outside of the church is going to affect how you behave inside the church
You know
We should not be these type of people that just show up on Sunday and we're one way and then once that once we're done
With services we go home and then the rest of the week. We're just a totally different person
You know, our behavior is unbecoming of a Christian we should be living the Christian life
Seven days a week 24 hours a day. That should be who we are
It shouldn't just be a switch that we turn off and on I'm in church today
Let me put on my church face and put on my church clothes and go act like I'm like
I'm expected to act at church and then when I get back out in the world, you know
I forget I forget that well that man and just go on the way I was
You know how you behave the rest of the week is gonna show up in here as well
How you are out in the world is going to show up even in church
So look there in Psalm 101 verse 1
What's one of the first behaviors or bad behaviors that we should try to avoid in our lives?
It says I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee O Lord
I will sing I will behave myself in a perfect way now right out of the gate, you know
this is just not in the notes, but
There's a good behavior singing
You know
That would probably help a lot of people in their in their life from day to day if they would just learn to sing and
Praise the Lord, you know, just having a song in their heart
Just having you know, praise unto our God on their lips, you know
That would probably correct a lot of attitudes
If we find ourselves down in the dumps or getting a bad attitude if we would just stop and just praise the Lord
It would probably remind us, you know to count our many blessings, you know, you sing that song
I don't know how you can't you can walk away with that song with a bad attitude after that
It's a reminds us that we should be counting our blessings
But what I want to focus in here is verse 2 where it says I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way
Oh when without come unto me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. So he's saying I'm gonna walk within my house with a perfect heart
So there is a way to behave in God's house
There's also a way to behave in your house. There's there's habits that you need to
Avoid outside of the church. There's habits. You need to have in your life outside of the church
You need to have these things in your house as well
And one of those things he says is I will set no wicked thing
before mine eyes and
Here's a great truth what you watch affects your eyes. The Bible says mine eye affecteth mine heart
You know the things that you look at the things that you watch the things that you let in through your eye
Those things are going to affect your heart and they're going to affect the way you behave
I mean is it it's no coincidence when we watch something. It's got a lot of cussing in it
You know if we hear a lot of filthy language
Just mark it down. We're gonna be cussing
You know, it's gonna come out of our mouth because we're used to it
And you know those of us that have gotten saved later in life, you know
Unfortunately, this is more of a struggle for some people than others, you know
I remember growing up when dad visited, you know, my folks were split up and when he would visit, you know
We was down to the video store and it was every every action movie saga under the Sun every Rambo
Every lethal weapon every predator every alien just one two and three every sequel and it was we'd sit down and we just watch him
Non-stop that was like something he just loved to do and let me tell you something
There was a lot of filth and there was a lot of just wickedness and there was a lot of just dirty talking going on
In that those movies and that's something that you know affected my heart
I remember you as a young man growing up as a child even just having these these dirty words
They come out and if we're not careful these things still continue to show up
Bible says be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners, you know the things that come out of your mouth
They're going to affect the way you behave, you know
If you're just gonna turn it you start cussing like a sailor and and saying dirty things and telling dirty jokes
It's gonna affect your mind and it might even get to the point where it starts to affect your mate
You're you're you're a behavior, you know where you start to say things make crude jokes and next next thing, you know
well, it's just a joke and maybe you'll actually participate in some sin you just make some lewd joke about some crude sin and
After you do that long enough you're around that kind of thing long enough. It desensitizes you to it
And that's what television does, you know and and people they can make that decision for themselves
I understand that every television comes with an off button, you know that you can you have some control over it
But I I just I don't have one, you know now that's not to say that I don't watch anything
Obviously I had you know everyone a lot of people today still I don't have a television
But it's not because they're trying to live some godly life
It's because they're pulling the plug on cable and everyone's going to internet, you know, they've all got
You know laptops and computers and smartphones and that's how we take in a lot of things
But here's the nice thing about those devices versus say cable television is the fact that you have some control about what you're going to watch
You know, you're not gonna have some commercial coming on a lot of times the things that we watch
Even on TV are not necessarily bad. It's everything that they stuff in between
It's all the the cutaways to you know, the
The bikini babe, you know holding the the fight card in your UFC fights, right?
I like to watch UFC but I know for between rounds. It's you better look somewhere else
You know because they got some girl up there who looks like she needs a large pizza and a trench coat
You know and walking around with a with a with a card or it's the cheerleaders in the side of the
Of the the football game or something like that. They're always cramming that stuff in there
They're always trying to find a way to get that in front of your eyes some wicked thing
To get you to loss to get you to covet to get you to desire things that aren't yours that you don't have any business
wanting or looking at
So go ahead and turn up keep something in Psalms 101, but go over to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4
What you watch the things that you entertain yourself with those behaviors that you engage in are going to affect your behavior
They're gonna come out and the way you conduct yourself
The Bible says Ephesians chapter 4 verse 20 line let no corrupt
Communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers
I mean, that's that's some heavy language right there. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth
But that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers
Those are the type of things that we should be saying
And coming out of our mouths things that edify one another and build us up in Christ now
I know we all like to sit around and cut up and joke and everything like that and I think that's fine
But when it's when we start to get in that realm of saying things that are actually bringing others down when we're actually
Corrupting other people with our language or with our speech or the with the things that are coming out of our mouth are
Actually affecting people's minds and hearts in a negative way, you know, we had to avoid that
We ought to get as far away from that as we can and we have to get as far away from that as we can
And that type of thing is going to happen if what we're letting into our heart
Is is corrupt if you let something corrupt into your heart, you know
It's going to come out of your heart out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh
You know those things which come out of a man they defile a man
So if we're just filling our heart with the worldliness and the wickedness that's out there and all the corrupt things and all the wicked
And evil things it shouldn't surprise us when those same things start to come back out
You know and we can keep a cap on it, you know, we can put a cap on that when we're in church
You know for a few hours on sunday
But what if we were to go around week to week just day in and day out with one another?
I wonder how many things we might hear, you know, hopefully not
Because here's the thing if you if you set these wicked things before your eye go ahead and turn back to psalms 101 psalms 101
He says I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside
It shall not cleave to me. Now that's interesting language that he uses there that it shall not cleave to him
See wicked things that you set before your eyes those things cleave to you
They don't it's not like you just turn off the tv and you forget them
The things that you see on television the imagery that we see the and the here
And the way it engages the mind and the brain it will cleave to you
I mean, why is it?
That I saw a movie when I was 15 and I could still get up to you and practically quote that
That we can all sit around and have
And and bring up movies from the 90s and the 80s and make these references we all remember I haven't seen those movies in a decade
Some song will come you'll be in the supermarket or somewhere and you'll hear some song come on the radio
You could sing along to it
You haven't sung it in years
It's because those things reach out and they cleave to you, right?
so that's why we have to be really careful about the things that we let in because it's not just
As simple as we like to think that well i'm just going to watch this today turn it off and forget about it
It's going to cleave to you my friend
and and
And eventually it's going to come back out. That's why these old movies these old songs
They're so easily recollected, you know
But uh go over to keep something in psalms 101 all night, but go over to psalms
Uh chapter 19
Now those things are in there. They're in there
You know, we've had the past and we have we've watched the things that we've watched
We've heard and seen the things that we've heard and seen you can't change that
But really what we should try to be doing is to replace those things
And I want to get ahead of myself but a lot of times people what they do
Is they withdraw from that and then they just create a vacuum
Like they just remove the wickedness that's there but they don't replace it with anything
And if they don't do that what's going to happen is that's going to just suck them back in
And they're just going to go right back into it because there's nothing there to keep them out
So in psalm 19 look at verse 14
He says let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in my sight. Oh lord
My strength and my redeemer my redeemer
So we should be meditating on things that are pleasing to god. We should be uh,
But the words that come out of our mouth, they should be pleasing on to god
How is that going to happen if the meditation of your heart is right?
You know if you're thinking on godly things if you're thinking about holy and righteous things, that's what's going to come out of your mouth
So it's not enough to just say well i'm not going to watch this stuff
I'm, not going to put these wicked things in front of my eyes and that's it. You have to move on to something else
you know you have to take the
The the the turn the rock station off, you know and turn on the king james bible
You can't just turn it off and not listen. I mean if you can great
But you're going to have a lot harder time not going back to it if you don't replace it with something
It's just like people want to give up pop right so many people do this they give up pop
They're i'm only going to drink water. Not everybody can just do that. Sometimes they still need that fizzle
They still need that sensation. They still need to hear that
On the can right and they end up drinking those things right there the la croix, right?
But hey if that keeps you off the pop, you know, great, you know
People need to you know, they want to give up their alcohol, but the same thing, you know
They they they just want to go cold turkey. No, you probably ought to replace it with something
You know something i'm not saying go get a non-alcoholic beer
You know
But replace it with something that satisfies some of those cravings that you have that have just inert things that have just been drilled
into you
So that's one way we need to watch our behavior that we should not be
uh, you know
Just letting wicked things into our heart and into our mind because those things affect our behavior and and they're going to affect our whole life
so what's another way that we should be
Behaving specifically how not behaving things that we should not be getting involved with
From our data in our day-to-day life. How about this? Don't keep company with wicked people don't keep company with wicked people
Our best friends in the world should not be
Ungodly unsaved people i'm not saying you can't have unsaved friends, but i'm just saying
That they should not be you know, your confidence in life
They should not be those that you go to council for and and things like just some you know
Obviously we all have parents and there's wisdom there that we can glean from them
But i'm just saying in general, you know, your your buddy at work shouldn't be your bet
You know your unsaved buddy who just wants to go out and drink after work probably shouldn't be your best friend
And all the thing the only thing he has to talk about is worldliness
And ungodliness, you know that guy's probably not to be the your your best buddy
I'm, not saying you can't be friends to them be witness to them be a light unto them
But we shouldn't make wicked people especially now obviously unsafe people are not necessarily just wicked
But there's some time there's time i've known people that go out and make friends and they're pal around with wicked people
I'm saying wicked people people that hate god
Christians that get saved out of the world, right?
And but they still keep their old friends and some of those old friends hate god
So, you know people that are like here's an example if you have sodomites
That are your old friends. You need to get rid of those friends
You need to have nothing to do with them
Because those wicked people are going to affect your behavior negatively
Bad company equals bad behavior mark it down
And the worst people that you hang around the worst you yourself are going to behave
Here's the concept the word the bat the good never make the bad good
Never you won't find that in scripture where you have good people making bad people better
What you see a lot of is bad people making good people worse
I mean go read about the children of israel. That's what happens time and time and time again
They start getting involved with the heathen of the land and then they go into full-blown idolatry and god has to chase them
It's the same thing today friend
If you're a christian if you're a child of god and you start hanging around the wicked
Ungodly people and making them your your circle of friends. They're going to drag you down
Go and turn over to second samuel chapter 13 a very familiar story
But one that needs to be repeated to remind us these stories aren't just in there for filler
These are principles that we have to get down in our life and understand
Second samuel chapter 13, of course
Is the story of absalom the son of david now absalom had a wicked desire in his heart for his half sister
You know, he wanted to have her physically and he knew that he couldn't act on that. He knew it was wicked
And it says here in second samuel chapter 13 verse 1 and it came to pass after this
That absalom the son of david had a fair sister whose name was tamar and amnon the son of david loved her
And amnon was so vexed vexed that he fell sick for his sister tamar
For she was a virgin and amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her
So yeah, he loves this girl, but he knows that it's not right that it's improper. That's his half sister
That she's a virgin, you know, she's a maiden of israel and he doesn't want to do anything. He thought it hard
Why was he so vexed and and sick?
Because he as much as he desired her he knew it would be wrong
He said it said that he hard thought it hard for him to do anything to her
But what's the next verse say but amnon had a friend
And many a sad story in a christian's life could begin that way but so-and-so had a friend
They kept that one sodomite pal around
You know and and i've and i've you say that doesn't happen it happens
And and it seems like they have you know, this happens to i i've i've seen this happen more with women than with men
You know, they're out in the world. They have because women they don't really see how
They don't only see how
Sodomites what they are because they're very just we've talked about this already that they're very
Women are very trusting in nature. They think the best of people
You know generally speaking obviously people develop discernment and things like that
But so when they get saved and all these these friendly
They're they're gay friends at work, you know, all of a sudden
They're trying to shake them they're trying and they have a hard time doing it
You know, they're like, oh, I don't know how he can't get the message
That I don't want to go shopping with him anymore that I don't care what his opinion on shoes are
Or whatever it is that these these fags want to you know, what they do when they're hanging out with their girlfriends
But they have a hard time shaking them, you know if they don't learn to do that
It's going to affect them, you know and the same thing with guys, you know
even if guys were hanging around a bunch of
I don't know any normal guy that wants to hang around with another fag, you know some dude who wants to
Is into whatever, you know, that's just to me. That's just weird especially as a christian
I mean a little just being a straight guy, you know, it's just it would it's it's odd
to begin with
but you know
They had they keep these these people around these amnons in their life and they start to drag them down now
It doesn't have to be even a sodomite. I mean, it could just be some ungodly worldly wicked person
I mean i've worked around guys, you know in the field different fields i've been in i've been around some real roughnecks
And i'll tell you what hanging out with them 12 hours a day
Going out of town having to work, you know sleep in the same hotel rooms eat every meal with them see them all day
They it starts to have an effect on you
Being around those people they'll it'll it'll start next thing, you know, you're like well, you know
Maybe if I could just go to the bar with them tonight and just not drink
And first you do that not thank god. I've never done that, you know, I didn't but what if I stayed around hung around long enough
What if no one had ever taught me this maybe I thought well, what's so wrong about that, you know
You know, what's wrong with amnon? He seems like a nice guy, you know, they just want to hang out and shoot the breeze
Next thing, you know, you're at the bar and you know, it's the soda water and then you're like well, you know
One drink's not going to hurt
And next thing, you know, you're throwing back with them and you're you're stumbling out in the parking lot. Who knows?
There's so many different examples we could talk about
But the point being that if you keep bad company, it's only a matter of time until bad behavior follows
And that's what we see with amnon this so-called friend
And or excuse me amnam who had a friend whose name was
Jonadab the son of shimei david's brother and what does it say about him? He was a very subtle man
That's an attribute of satan. He was the most subtle animal a beast of the field right the serpent
He was very subtle in his dealings and that's what wicked people are like
They don't just come out and say hey i'm a wicked person and i'm here to destroy your life
I'm going to drag you down with me. Is that what they do? No, they're very subtle
You know and they probably don't even consider themselves to be that bad
You know, they're they're they're like pathological liars. They they believe themselves
They they've got themselves so convinced that they're they're good people that they believe it and that's why they're so good at convincing others
But they drag people down, you know, they're not obvious now go ahead and turn over to genesis chapter 9 another familiar story
Genesis chapter 9 verse 18 i'll begin reading
and the sons of noah
That went forth of the ark were shem ham and japheth and ham is the father of canan
These are the three sons of noah and of them was the whole earth overspread and noah began to be in husband
And he planted a vineyard
And drank of the wine and was drunken now shame on noah
You know, he should have not have been doing that. He should not have been
Making wine and getting drunk, but he was okay
And he was uncovered within his tent
And ham the father of canan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without
now this story
Some people want to say that nothing homo happened here
Okay, but I believe that something did happen something physically happened to him that ham
Physically violated his father assaulted him
All right, but I believe well, it doesn't say that exactly in text
Yeah, because I believe that noah being the man of god that he was god is trying to spare him a little embarrassment
You know, he's trying to kind of just kind of let us know. Hey wink wink nudge nudge. This is what happened
I don't want to just come out and say it about noah. He's trying because obviously no it's a real guy, right?
You know and this these are the eternal
pages of scripture
And everyone's going to know this story about noah
so my belief is that something physical did happen because it goes on and says
Verse 23 and ham and shafeth took a garment and laid it upon their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father
And their faces were backward and they saw not their father's nakedness
And noah awoke from his wine now here's where here's where you get the the the nudge from god
And knew what his younger son had done unto him
so he he woke up and said
Something happened to me somebody has done something to me
And he finds out who it was that he finds out it was something that his younger son had done unto him
And he said cursed be canan a servant of servants. Shall he be unto his brother?
I mean whatever was done unto him. It was enough for him to get out of his tent and say cursed be canan
And curse his own son
I mean, that's not just you know, dad's robe fell open and I saw more than I cared to right, you know, that's that's him
Cursing his son because something had been done unto him
So you don't have to agree with that, you know, I for a long time I had a trip didn't necessarily agree with that
But i've come around on that and I think that is in fact what's going on here
And really what we can learn from this is that bad company and alcohol are a bad mix
If you start mixing bad company with subtle people
And you start mixing alcohol into the equation
Bad things are going to happen to you. I mean I we all probably have horror stories either in our own lives or from other people
I mean I could tell you stories about other from I don't know from other people just the worst things happening to them getting raped
Because of being around the wrong people and mixing alcohol
You don't want that in your life
But that's what happens out there and people need to be reminded that you need to mind your behavior
The habits that you get involved in and the people that you keep company with can have devastating effects on your life
The bible says in abakkuk i'll read to you woe unto him. Okay him
Okay, that's that's male woe unto him that giveth his neighbor to drink that put us thy bottle to him
So it's a him putting his bottle to him right two dudes that and makest him drunk
And also that thou mayest look on their nakedness
I mean there again just another proof text showing us that when you start mixing alcohol and wicked people
Nothing good comes of it bad things happen
Really, uh weird stuff and there's people that have absolute horror stories
Things that they they got drunk around the wrong people and had advantage taken they were taken advantage of
And they have to live with that, you know, and they have to try and live that down. That's tough
Now
So we see that, you know keeping company with wicked people is just not a good idea
and uh
And and we should not be keeping company with people that are wicked individuals and we definitely don't want to be
Mixing alcohol in the equation as well
But let's just move along in here for the sake of time what's another
Type of people that we should not keep company with
We should not be keeping company with people who talk a lot of trash. Okay
Now, let me just come out and say this. This is not the same as expressing a concern about somebody
Because this is something that gets blurred a lot of people they take this to the a complete opposite extreme and say
I can never say anything critical about anybody ever. Okay, that's not what i'm talking about here
It's not about expressing a legitimate concern to somebody
But we also have to watch out for people that just want to go around and talk trash about people
And this happens this happens in churches where people just live to go around talk trash about you know
The preacher the pastor whoever talk about his wife talk about so and so their church member their wife
Whatever and all they want to do is just stir up strife and and contention
So we don't want to fall into that type of company either
go ahead turn over to uh
proverbs chapter
25 proverbs chapter 25
And really what this stems from when you have somebody who's just going to start talking trash about other individuals
Whether it's warranted or not whether they
What it's really coming from is a high look and a proud heart
The bible says whosoever privately slandereth his neighbor him will I cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart
I will I not suffer that's what we read in psalms 101
So we see it's coming out of a high look and a proud heart and really what it is
Is we try to bring others down to exalt ourselves and we've seen this time and time again
You know being involved with ministry where people just want to bring down others so that they can exalt themselves
And how do you handle that?
So how do you handle that when somebody is going to come to you and start talking trash and trying to bring another person down?
You know not saying hey, I have a legitimate concern about this person here x y and z, you know
And just looking for counsel, but it's going on. Hey, did you know about so and so did you know what they're involved in?
Can you believe that you know and just try you know what I mean? It's a there's a difference there
Okay
How do you handle that when somebody comes to you and does that look at proverbs 25 verse 23?
There's one way to handle it the north wind driveth away rain. So doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue
You know how you handle that you give them a dirty look
You know you say what do you know? We're hey, I don't want to hear that, you know
Well, really? Let's go talk to them and you can tell me all about it in front of them and we can talk about it
You know, we've done this, you know, my wife has done this
You know, I I reminded me of an example. We had there was a person
A lady, you know, she doesn't go to phoenix church anymore. This is years ago
But she had developed she developed a reputation for being a backbiter. Somebody just went around talk smack about ladies
You know would say things go to other men's wives and say hey, you know your husband's looking at me the wrong way
Wicked right? These are bad things
Try to divide make divisions in a marriage
This is not good. This type of thing happens at a church
And again, this is preventative okay, if this is the type of thing ever happens this is how you handle it
You get the you get the angry countenance
Because a person like that. They just want you to go. Oh really? Okay, and they just want to get an ear
So they can just start to fill it and just start filling your heart with the same
Animosity, okay
So the the the angry countenance is how you handle it and that's what my wife did we had this
Had this lainey over a couple and another couple over at our house for dinner
And my wife was you know down the hallway a little bit and she overheard this woman whispering ever so slightly about so-and-so
And did you know about so-and-so and this was a new and she's saying this to a younger
Newer christian who had just come to the church
And she starts starts it up again. Okay
And what did my wife do? I mean she walked right up and she's like you're not gonna be talking about smack
She did like the whisper yell thing, you know, you know what i'm talking you're not gonna come in here
Talk white talk crap and something like that. You know, she's she she nipped it right in the bud
And of course she's like, oh I wasn't talking about so-and-so. I wasn't doing that. She's like, okay
Well, we'll go there tomorrow and you can say exactly what you just said to their face and then it was like, oh i'm sorry
Please please forgive me, you know, and we did we got over it, you know, and it's not an example i'm bringing up just you know for
Just for the sake of it. It's it's a perfect example of how to handle this type of a thing
That when somebody comes to you and they're not they're not coming at you of a genuine
concern, but they're just wanting to just fill your heart with
Animosity towards somebody that's how you handle it right there
When they're trying to just talk trash and and pit people against each other
Now go back to psalm 101 if you kept something there
So the the point is this, you know, we need to keep comp careful of the company
we got to keep
We have to
Be careful of the company that we keep and i'm trying to get it out
We have to be careful of the company that we keep because the company that we keep will affect our behavior whether it's a drunk
Whether it's just a subtle wicked person whether it's somebody who just wants to talk a bunch of trash and be a gossip
We have to be careful of these people and these are the type of things that that pop up in a church
And he's and so we understand now what to look out for. Okay, what not to to be allowing into our lives
But what should we allow into our lives? We'll look here in psalm 101 verse 6
He says in psalm 101 verse 6 mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land
That they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way. He shall serve me
So instead of you know, having your eyes upon the wicked of the land and keeping company with wicked people
And subtle people and bad people we should be actually keeping our eyes upon the faithful of the land
And that's why it's great when our fellowship outside of church
Involves people from church
You know, like I just heard about some fellowship that went on, you know this Saturday and quite frankly, I was a little jealous
I wasn't there
You know, I heard the wings were great. So
I had some great wings at my house. Let me tell you they were some of the best things i've ever had
Oven baked sticky not saucy just a little crispy. Oh, man could eat eat the whole thing. Anyway
But the company that you know when we our company and our fellowship outside of church involves people from church
That's you keeping your eyes upon the faithful of the land surrounding yourself with good christian fellowship
So here's the thing
Again, you can't just go into this vacuum, right if you've got wicked friends if you have bad influences in your life
If you've got bad habits, it's yes cut those things out, but you can't stop there
you can't just say well i'm not gonna have anything to do with that anymore and just
You know just turn yourself into some kind of you know, shut in
You know, and i'm just going to change my phone number or block those numbers and just
You know not answer the door when they knock whatever you can't just ignore it and not
You have to replace it with something you have to fill that void
Otherwise, you're just going to create a vacuum
And you know, I kind of already alluded alluded to this but one relationship that people have that they need to watch out for
That has a major influence that has a lot of backbiting people
One influence that has a lot of liars and slanderers and drunks and homos and wicked subtle people
One relationship that people have that has a lot of that in their life is television
It's the television
And I know already kind of alluded to this
But you know this kind of this illustration drives the point home
You know, what if I had what if I had said came to you and I said to you that hey i'm gonna I I
My wife kicked me out. I've been having an affair
You know, I was lying to her I was cheating on her and I need a place to stay
So i'm gonna come live in your house
Okay, and I only need one room. I just need one room in your house. That's all I need
But here's the thing i'm gonna stay there all day every day
I'll be there every time you come home from work and we can talk whenever you want
And you can spend all the time you want with me, right?
And we can hang out we get to know one another and and here's here's the best part
You're gonna pay me to stay there
You're gonna pay me to stay in that one room and be there whenever you need me
And we could talk about anything you want a dirty joke. I got you know, we could talk with dirty jokes
Like we could talk about filth. We could talk about whatever you want. You'd say you're crazy
No way brother. Corbin ain't gonna happen
Right, but here's the thing. That's exactly what a television does
That's what I am
That's a tv
You bring you set that tv in there. That's the exact same thing now
You've got somebody in your house that you're gonna pay
You know last time I used that illustration someone come and corrected me
And someone who actually installed uh internet and cable and said it's actually more than 100 bucks. It's more like 200 bucks
I mean they said it's actually it's more expensive
You're gonna sit there and pay 200 for somebody to just pipe
All that filth and trash into your living room
You know, they're gonna set up some filth funnel the satellite up on your on your rooftop. Just filter in all the filth
So you can just sit there and flip through and just take in all the ungodly worldliness
So that's one behavior
Or one, uh, excuse me. That's one relationship in our life that people need to seriously examine
I mean if we're sitting down and just watching whatever's coming across the screen
You know that stuff's going to be affecting your mind. It's going to affect your heart and it's going to affect your behavior
The bible says there in proverbs
Or excuse me psalm 101 where we are in verse 7
He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight
I only watch the news you're listening to somebody that tells you lies. I only tune into fox. You're filling yourself with lies
Bunch of liars. I only watch
Anderson pooper, you know
Rachel man cow
You know those you know, I watch them
a bunch of liars
I only watch you know, uh, sean insanity
Liar
You know rush limbatomy
liar
They're just filling yourself, you know all these
bill, oh
No, riley, right? I don't know. I didn't think bill lyrie. Thank you
You know all the pundits that are just brainwashing you with their agenda, right? They're lying to you
I don't watch the filth. You know, I don't turn over to the playboy channel. I don't watch all the ungodliness that's over there
I don't watch hbo and cinemax and all that other filth. I only watch you know, I only watch the news you're still dwelling with people
That are telling lies to you and the bible says here that the he shall that telleth lie shall not tarry in my sight
I'm, not going to let him dwell and hang out and linger in my field of vision
You know and it's not and it's not it's not well i'm just going to leave the room he's leaving the room
Okay, it's going out
And again, I understand that, you know, i'm not saying that the device itself that's mounted on the wall is wicked
It's what comes across it
You know people can have a television
And control what's on there today, you know growing up. It wasn't the case for us, you know
It was either antenna or cable and you know or or you got like the economy package, you know, 13 channels or whatever
That's what we had growing up here 13 channels. One of them was the learning channel
Didn't we come up with a good?
Tlc acronym the other day the lying channel
Right. That was the lying channel where they're just you know more lies. They're just filling yourself with lies
Well, it's a learning channel. What could be wrong with that lies?
Lying to you about god lying to you about the bible lying to you about evolution
PBS what's a good acronym there, you know?
The uh, I should have thought of this beforehand right and it was off the cuff public, uh
A belial, uh signal, I don't know
You know, but pbs what could be wrong with that? Oh, I don't know that they're lying to you, right, you know
Yeah evolution all the other trash like the commie crap that comes across it
So, you know television is the one relationship that people really need to examine in their life
And whether or not they should even have that
Now what's a great thing today is that yeah, you can have the device but then you can hook up, you know
Youtube to it and you can put good preaching on it
You can watch a documentary you could probably filter through and find some good clean entertainment to put on there
You know, there's not every documentary has to be you know framing the world or or from the new ifb movement
There are also other good ones out there. I highly suggest I got a few I could suggest, you know
You know the the shackleton's voyage of the endurance, you know
Narrated by leah nelson. You can even get your hollywood star in there if you want it, right?
I don't recommend that version. There's other ones out there
But those are there's other great informative things that we could take in for entertainment other than you know
Watching, you know the fifth season of of seinfeld for the third time or cheers
Or whatever wicked show that you want to you know friends
I mean, they're still advertising seinfeld. Did you know that on billboards in phoenix?
We've got rights to the reruns tune in wednesdays at seven
You know and all these things that that we could sit down and just start to fill our minds with
They affect our heart, you know, and I and I get it. I mean the allurement's there
Seinfeld's a funny guy, you know, I mean there's some of those episodes were hilarious
But you know what they start to affect our minds. They start to affect our heart
We start to think oh, you know sleeping around it's not so bad
Oh, they just make oh, it's no longer adultery. It's just an affair
You know, it's just it's you know, and then there's the one the what now i'll admit I was a seinfeld addict
Okay, you know the one episode I didn't watch sign is putty as a christian
Because I knew they were just going to mock and it was it was like the second to last
It was one of the last episodes they chose to air
And I already knew they're just going to mock christianity to that whole thing. So I just didn't watch it
You know, but that's not good enough. You know, we we need to get that stuff out of our lives
So there is a way that we should behave, you know
There's behaviors that we need to look out for and people that are going to influence our behavior
We need to get rid of that those relationships whether they be wicked people
Whether that be through the television or actual physical
reactions with other people that are wicked we need to get it out of there and there is a way that we should behave so
We talked a lot about tonight about what we shouldn't be doing, right?
And when we figure out what we shouldn't be doing that usually gets us going in the right direction
When we start getting away from the thing, you know these bad things normally we're going to be heading in the right way
So what are some of the ways we should behave go and turn over to first corinthians chapter 13 first corinthians chapter 13
first
First corinthians chapter 13
Beginning in first war the bible says
And we should all know this one, right?
Some of you should know it really well
charity suffereth long and is kind charity envieth not
Charity vanteth not itself is not puffed up doth not behave itself unseemly
Seeketh not our own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil
Rejoiceeth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things
Hopeth all things endureth all things these should be the type of behaviors that we have in our life
We should try to emulate these things
You know if we're walking in the spirit and we're living for god
These are the type of attributes that are going to begin to bear fruit in our lives
But it's not always going to just happen automatically. We have to check ourselves to sometimes say am I behaving unseemly?
Am I seeking my own? Am I easily provoked? Am I thinking evil?
Am I rejoicing in iniquity?
Am I rejoicing the truth? Am I bearing all things? Do I believe all things?
Am I enduring all things? Am I suffering long? Am I being kind?
Am I not envying we have to check ourselves with these and see how our behavior is lining up
Because this is the way we should be behaving. These are should be things that are are
You know indicative of our character as christians
So what is charity?
You know, it's an old-fashioned word for love basically charity is love and that's an attribute that should define us
You know if someone would say what what is you know, how how what would
What would you say about so-and-so? You could they say well, he's a very loving person
She's a very loving individual
Because they look at your life and say oh that person cares about others. They love others
They're they're more worried about others than themselves
You know most of us we could probably say that about everybody in the room
You know people that want to go out and knock on some stranger's door and preach them the gospel
That's a very loving thing to do
You know, but there's a lot more to it than just that, you know, that's a good place to start
But there's a lot of other things
Uh that we need to do to where we show love. How about we should have love for the brethren, right?
I preached a sermon about this a few
Months ago the bible says you don't have to turn there first peter chapter two honor all men love the brotherhood fear
God honor the king
Now notice that's a serious command because it's right right between all honor all men and fear god
Right, you have these two
You wouldn't just say you wouldn't be flipping about that one. Well fear god, you know, that's optional not optional
But right before that it says love the brotherhood. It's just as serious
Notice how serious a command that is to be in the same verse as fear god
So you can't you can't have love you can't lack love for the brethren and say you fear god
Right because that that's a command
You know, well, you know love the brotherhood. I don't really have to do that. Are you really fearing god at that point?
Are you really worried about keeping god's commands if you're not keeping that one where we're supposed to be loving the brotherhood
The bible says i'll read to you in first john four go and turn over to romans 12 romans 12
Bible says in first john four if a man say I love god and hated this brother. He is a liar
For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love god whom he hath not seen?
And this is the commandment we have from him that he who loveth god love his brother also
So loving the brotherhood is a serious command
That we have to take very seriously and it's not always easy to just love the brotherhood
Look look here in romans chapter 12 verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation mean don't let it be fake
Don't let it be simulated, you know, don't let it be just this this hokey fake love. Let it be real
You know, we should weep with those that weep and rejoice with them that rejoice
When we really get to know people the brotherhood and look i'm not saying everybody in church has to be you know, bosom buddies
But I mean if you don't have anybody like that
Like if you're not you don't have to develop any kind of relationship any kind of closeness with anybody in the church
All right, you know i'd say are you really loving the brotherhood? Are you really in this?
to to to
You know edify and love one another and build the church up
Or are we just coming in to just you know?
Check off got church out of the way
I'm right with god this week because I went to church
Or is it i'm going there because I love these people. I want to help these people. I want to see
God do something in this church
So he says there let love be without dissimulation. Let it be real
Abort that which is evil cleave to that which is good. There's that word again
Instead of letting everything the wickedness and the worldliness cleave to us. We should be cleaving to that which is good
Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love
and honor preferring one another
Not slothful in business fervent spirit serving lord rejoicing in hope patient tribulation continuing instant in prayer
so
We see here that you know rome that psalms 101 was kind of the negative right it was telling us to you know get rid of
Uh to not letting the liars tarry in our sight to not let you know, the wicked people cleave unto us
You know and to and to get away from wickedness and it was the negative side of our behavior things that we should not be doing
But romans 12 is the positive, isn't it?
It's saying, you know, uh, psalm 101 was set. No thing, uh,
Wicked thing set no wicked thing before my eyes. It shall not cleave to me
But here we say it bore that which is evil and cleave that which is good
so again this concept of not living in a vacuum that's something I keep bringing up because
That's how people end up so often going back to their old ways
And not growing in this area is because they're not making a concerted effort to actually improve here
Or getting rid of the bad and filling it with the good
so verse 10 there is
You know kind of a tall order when you look at it rejoicing in hope
Patient and tribulation that's easier said than done sometimes, isn't it?
When we're really being in tribulation, we're really being persecuted. We're really going through some tough time in our life
It's hard to just tell you. Oh, just be patient
You know, we have to try to do that on our own
You know, the the preacher just can't go up say oh you need to be patient and that's going to fix it
You have to make that effort
And it's easier said than done. This is a tall order
Patient and tribulation continuing instant in prayer. I mean that takes discipline and thoughtfulness
Distributing this as necessity of the states given to hospital
Hospitality, excuse me
You know we are to be uh
Kindly affection one to another with brotherly love
So that's a command there and it's not always easy to do. In fact, there's going to be people that we find unlovable
And you know, i've had my fair share of that over the years
Just said I don't this person is very unlovable
But the command is to love them all the same, isn't it? That is the command and again
I'm not saying we have to bake them cookies and bring them flowers and and and and all of that
But we have to try to at least love
The brethren it's command
Go over to ephesians chapter 4 in ephesians chapter 4. This is behavior. We're dealing with how we ought to behave ourselves
These are the type of behaviors we should have and should not have in our lives
Look at ephesians chapter 4 verse 31, you know, so often we just want to make it external, you know
Not getting involved in xyz sin
But a lot of our behavior has to deal with what's inside what's going on in our heart and in our minds
Let all bitterness look at verse 31 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with
all malice
And be kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god for christ's sake hath forgiven you
You know notice he says there
Let all bitterness you need to let this happen
God plays a part in this god, you know if we're walking in the spirit
The fruits of the spirit, you know, uh joy peace long suffering gentleness meekness patience
These things will begin the fruit of a spirit will begin to abound in our life
And these things will start to happen to some degree on their own
We'll start to let notice the bitterness and the wrath and the anger starts to go away the clamor the evil speaking
But we need to let that happen some people fight that they want to hang on to these things
They want to stay bitter. They want to have that wrath
You know, they want to have the anger because come on sometimes when you're angry man, you feel alive, you know what i'm saying?
You ever get really mad you feel like, you know, the heart's pumping, you know if you feel alive
But we need to let these things go
And we need to let this happen
He says there be kind one to another tenderhearted
You know, that's that's not always
You know something that we always have sometimes we have to have
it reminds me when I read that it reminds me of like
You know, like some pieces like some cuts of meat are tougher than others
Some of them are really hard to bite through and what do they do?
They take a mallet a lot of times
And they just beat that thing right to to loosen that up to mash that cut of meat to make it more tender, right?
more tender piece of meat
And sometimes that's what we need
Sometimes we need someone to just take the bible and start to just hey you need to loosen up
You need to get more tender
You know when you get in the bible and prayer and let god just go hey you need to loosen up
You need to be more tender and work on our on our hearts because sometimes our hearts
Can they develop an unkind and unforgiving attitude?
And that's an evidence of a hard heart and we need to let
The preaching and the reading and the holy spirit begin to loosen up our hearts and become tenderhearted people
forgiving one another
You say well why why do I have to do all that even as god for christ's sake hath forgiven you that's why
Because you know if you're having a hard time in this area just consider the offense that you were to god
And just think about that
That you were one time an enemy with god and what if god decided to not be forgiving?
What if god decided to stay bitter and wrathful and angry?
And and not forgive you and not be tenderhearted towards you when you were an offense to him
Where would that have left us?
So again, not easy. These aren't easy behaviors, but they're necessary
And let me say this if you're ever going to be considered for ministry. It's 100
necessary
You know just going through and checking off the requirements of first timothy three
You know and having gotten your marriage down and read your bibles xyz times and and had x many amount of children
And going through that checklist you can cross them all off. But if these attributes aren't in you
Ministry is not for you because you'll fail and you'll ruin people and it's not what you want
not easy
But commanded these are the behaviors that we have to have the bible says in second second timothy chapter 2 verse 24
The servant of the lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient
in meekness
instructing those that oppose themselves
So that's the type of attitude we have to have especially if we're going to go into ministry
Then we have to be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient and in meekness instructing others
so
You know, it would help us because that same verse it goes on and it says
Why why does it you have to have those attributes?
You know of the servant of lord not being one that strives
But apt to teach to be patient to be meek and instructing those
If god preadventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will
That's why we have these behaviors. That's why we develop these attributes in our lives
So that others can recover themselves out of the snare of the devil
You know if you've ever been snared in the devil, you should know it's not a fun place to be
It's not good
And when we see somebody else who's snared by the devil
Our heart should go out to them to want to set them free
But that's going to require certain behaviors and that's going to require us to have
a gentle
apt apt
teacher
Be to be gentle to be patient and in meekness teaching and instructing others to help them set them free from that those snares
And you know if we started to see others as that if we actually had saw people
as captives that are taken, you know
Of the devil we would probably be more patient with them and we would probably
Have more of these attributes toward them if we could learn to see people like that
People who have been ensnared by the devil
You know some people in life. They're just trying to recover from a life of sin
They're just trying to get their life in order and we should be gentle towards those people and we should be
Uh, we should be willing to teach and instruct them to help them to get away from the devil
And teach them things like this how to behave what behaviors they should avoid and what behaviors they should bring into their life because
How others behave affects us that's the great truth of the sermon why should we concern about how to behave ourselves?
Because how you behave affects people, you know for good or worse
And and how we affect uh, how other people I mean think about it how other people behave affect you
The way you behave affects others
So that's why we need to consider our behavior not just
In regards to you know, the external sins and iniquities and things that we should not be participating in
But also in our own hearts the attributes the characteristics
That we should be developing in our lives so that our behavior could be beneficial to others. Let's go ahead and pray